Khoj vs SurfSense
Short answer
Khoj: Personal and team AI "second brain" for your documents and the web. SurfSense: Open-source NotebookLM / Perplexity-style research workspace you can self-host. Both are in our AI search & research assistants category.
Choose Khoj if you want: larger community (37.8k vs 16.6k GitHub stars).
Choose SurfSense if you want: fewer license conditions (Permissive vs Network copyleft (AGPL)).
Khoj and SurfSense publish no official RAM figure, so we cannot compare hosting cost directly.
Last updated · computed from each project's official docs and live GitHub data · sources
Khoj vs SurfSense side by side
| Khoj | SurfSense | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | AI search & research assistants | AI search & research assistants |
| What it is | Personal and team AI "second brain" for your documents and the web. | Open-source NotebookLM / Perplexity-style research workspace you can self-host. |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| License type | Network copyleft (AGPL) | Permissive |
| License conditions | Free for internal and commercial use. If you modify Khoj and let users interact with it over a network, you must offer them the modified source code under AGPL-3.0. | Permissive. Internal and commercial use allowed; keep the Apache-2.0 license and notices. |
| Status | Active | Active |
| GitHub stars | 37.8k | 16.6k |
| Last commit | Aug 2, 2026 | Oct 21, 2026 |
| Latest release | 2.0.0-beta.28 | v2.2.3 |
| Minimum hardware | Not published | Not published |
| Recommended hardware | Not published | Not published |
| RAM measured by us | Not tested yet | Not tested yet |
| GPU | Only for offline chat with local models. 16 GB VRAM recommended; an NVIDIA/AMD GPU or an Apple M1+ machine speeds up responses significantly. | Optional. Set SURFSENSE_VARIANT=cuda (or cuda126) and the GPU Compose overlay when you want NVIDIA acceleration; CPU images are the default. |
| Est. server cost | Not estimated | Not estimated |
| Deploy method | Docker Compose | Docker Compose |
| Known gotchas | 2 listed | 4 listed |
| Telemetry | On by default | Off by default (opt-in) |
| Calls home by default | Not documented | Not documented |
| SSO (OIDC / SAML / LDAP) | Not documented | Not documented |
| Audit log | Not documented | Not documented |
| RBAC | Not documented | Not documented |
| Details | Full Khoj guide → | Full SurfSense guide → |
Key differences
- License: Khoj: AGPL-3.0 (Network copyleft (AGPL)). SurfSense: Apache-2.0 (Permissive).
- GitHub stars: Khoj: 37.8k. SurfSense: 16.6k.
- Last commit: Khoj: Aug 2, 2026. SurfSense: Oct 21, 2026.
- Latest release: Khoj: 2.0.0-beta.28 (Mar 26, 2026). SurfSense: v2.2.3 (Oct 21, 2026).
Same for both: Category: AI search & research assistants; Official hardware: not published; GPU: optional / see notes; Est. server cost: not estimated (no official RAM figure); Deploy: Docker Compose · multi-container stack; Status: Active.
Khoj vs SurfSense: FAQ
Khoj or SurfSense: which should a small business choose?
Choose Khoj if you want: larger community (37.8k vs 16.6k GitHub stars). Choose SurfSense if you want: fewer license conditions (Permissive vs Network copyleft (AGPL)). Khoj and SurfSense publish no official RAM figure, so we cannot compare hosting cost directly.
Which is cheaper to self-host, Khoj or SurfSense?
Khoj: not estimated (no official RAM figure). SurfSense: not estimated (no official RAM figure). Our estimate is the cheapest Hetzner Cloud plan that meets each project's official RAM and vCPU figure; it covers the server only.
How much hardware do Khoj and SurfSense need?
Khoj: not published. SurfSense: not published.
What is the license difference between Khoj and SurfSense?
Khoj: AGPL-3.0 (Network copyleft (AGPL)). Free for internal and commercial use. If you modify Khoj and let users interact with it over a network, you must offer them the modified source code under AGPL-3.0. SurfSense: Apache-2.0 (Permissive). Permissive. Internal and commercial use allowed; keep the Apache-2.0 license and notices. This is a summary, not legal advice.
Is Khoj or SurfSense more actively maintained?
Khoj: Active, last commit Aug 2, 2026. SurfSense: Active, last commit Oct 21, 2026. GitHub data refreshed Oct 25, 2026.
Which is easier to deploy, Khoj or SurfSense?
Khoj installs via Docker Compose (multi-container stack); SurfSense via Docker Compose (multi-container stack). Khoj lists 2 known gotchas and SurfSense lists 4; see each app page.
Related
- Khoj self-hosting guide · SurfSense self-hosting guide
- All Khoj alternatives, ranked
- All SurfSense alternatives, ranked
- GPT Researcher vs Khoj
- GPT Researcher vs SurfSense
- Khoj vs Onyx (formerly Danswer)
- Khoj vs Open Notebook
- Khoj vs Vane (formerly Perplexica)
- SurfSense vs Vane (formerly Perplexica)
- Add a third app in the interactive comparison
Sources
- Khoj GitHub repository: github.com/khoj-ai/khoj
- Khoj documentation, Khoj hardware requirements, Khoj deploy instructions: docs.khoj.dev/get-started/setup/
- Khoj license: github.com/khoj-ai/khoj/blob/master/LICENSE
- SurfSense GitHub repository: github.com/MODSetter/SurfSense
- SurfSense documentation, SurfSense hardware requirements, SurfSense deploy instructions: www.surfsense.com/docs/docker-installation
- SurfSense license: github.com/MODSetter/SurfSense/blob/main/LICENSE
- Hetzner Cloud pricing used for cost estimates (read 2026-10-22): www.hetzner.com/cloud/regular-performance
- GitHub REST API (stars, commits, releases): docs.github.com/en/rest
Every value is generated from the same verified data as the app pages. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.